About Health Emergency Management in New Zealand
Linking people and organisations involved in the area of emergency and health management
within the broad field of healthcare.
HEMNZ aims to:
- Facilitate the exchange of ideas, information and expertise between members working in the field of emergency and disaster management within the healthcare sector.
- Provide a contact list of HEMNZ members for the further development of professional contacts.
- Provide a listing of available resources and training opportunities related to emergency and disaster planning.
How HEMNZ Works
HEMNZ is a network of people, connected via e-mail, who have an interest in the area of emergency and disaster management within the healthcare sector.
HEMNZ members can either contribute information to be distributed to other network members or request information. All contributions and requests are collated and distributed to HEMNZ members via a regular bulletin.
Collectively, the knowledge and skills of HEMNZ members is phenomenal. By working together and sharing information, members can enhance planning and preparedness, within the broad area of healthcare, for all major events that could have an impact on healthcare delivery.
The HEMNZ Team
Lucy Adams, St John Emergency Management Advisor for the North Island, brings to her role a background in emergency nursing and occupational health and safety. She has worked in a number of hospitals in Australia and New Zealand and as a nurse on Caribbean cruise liners. Lucy’s last appointment was as the Wellness and Safety Advisor to the Counties Manukau Police District and Auckland Metro Crime and Operations Service.
Lucy has a Masters in Health Science from the University of Auckland and is an accredited Occupational Health and Safety Auditor. In 2005 she was nominated for the Australasian Council of Women and Policing – Excellence in Policing Awards as the Most Outstanding Female Administrator.
lucy.adams@stjohn.org.nz
Tim Chiswell is the St John Emergency Management Advisor for the South Island. He has ten years of experience working in the humanitarian and emergency management sector, both internationally and domestically. Most recently he has been employed as International Programmes Manager for Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand. He has been involved with tsunami relief in Sri Lanka and Indonesia; relief and recovery in response to the 2005 Pakistan/Indian earthquake; relief support in Darfur; response to Cyclones Heta and Waka; the rehabilitation of health facilities in Timor L’este; and the development of community based trauma counselling in Papua New Guinea following the Bougainville crisis.
Tim has also worked for extended periods in Tanzania, Cambodia, Rwanda and Chechnya and conducted programme assessments in Central America and Asia.
Tim has an honours degree in mechanical engineering from Canterbury University and a Masters of Science in Management and Implementation of Development Projects from the University of Manchester. He is a RedR and Sphere Project trainer. Tim was the assistant project manager during the redevelopment of Christchurch Women’s Hospital.
Tim has been the chair of NGO Disaster Relief Forum and Caritas Internationalis Co-operation Committee. The former working on improving the performance of NZ based humanitarian organisations, while the latter increasing coordination between the 162 members of the Caritas confederation.